The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
The Internet has made it easy to connect with others electronically but also challenging to manage such connections. Existing social network systems and professional network systems typically create and store digital records of friends or connections based upon a binary sense of linkage: a first user account is either a friend or connection of a second user account, or not. There are limited ways to account for the type of relationship and limited ways to filter the display of messages, electronic documents or other content based upon the type or strength of relationship. Furthermore, computer-implemented tools for supporting decisions based on type or strength of relationship are either too complex, being directed to intelligence analysis and the like, or inappropriate for business communication management. It would be helpful to have computer support to identify whom to contact for specific purposes and how to establish such a contact more efficiently and effectively.